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Callender said:

RE: PC Hunter. You only used it to copy a folder or some files right?

RE: GeekUnistaller. You used it to uninstall Teracopy and scan for leftovers right?

If that's the case there's nothing to worry about. Neither of those softwares will mess with passwords and both are malware free. Regarding PC Hunter - if you mess about with the advanced stuff it will screw up your system if not used correctly!

Thanks for the reassuring words, Callender. It's not malware carried by those programs I was concerned about.

PC Hunter : I only used it to browse my files and copy them, as you instructed me. I'll probably delete it, as I don't understand what it does, except there are big DANGER signs all over it.

Geek Uninstaller : that's the one I'm more wary about. Yes, I used it to uninstall something, I don't remember what, and then it also uninstalled something else, at the same time, without asking, I think 7-Zip. Never seen anything like that ! I also did not like the way it forces you into closed choices regarding cleaning beyond what the regular uninstaller does, unlike Revo, which offers plenty of granularity, information and options.

I've seen all the (purported) testimonials on their site saying how much better than Revo it is (and Revo certainly has its own clunkiness and irritating discrepancies), but that first experience has certainly been off-putting. What is your experience of it ?

(I'm also wary of using a lesser-known uninstaller. Those beasts are registry cleaners, and registry cleaners can be dangerous. And who came out with that name, Geek Uninstaller ? That's not reassuring in the least. I use a search tool named File Locator Lite, it's the "professional" free version, and the only difference with the free version intended for home use is that the latter is known as Agent Ransack. At least they were sharp enough to understand that no business user in his right mind would let a piece of software called Agent Ransack within his premises ! I myself downloaded the "professional" version, just so I did not have that ridiculous name staring at me from my own computer !)

Thanks for the screen grabs, Callender. Very helpful. That's precisely what I didn't get. I didn't get screen n°2 with the registry view.

Instead, I got two or three small dialog boxes saying (from memory) : file x remains, it's a shared file, do you want to delete it ? One of them I deleted by hand, through Windows Explorer, after double-checking, because it seemed exclusive to the uninstalled software, the other I left alone.

And yes, Geek Uninstaller uninstalled my 7-Zip on top of the program I had actually asked to be removed. It's not there anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact sequence of events and displayed messages.

I use Revo Uninstaller Pro (version 2.5.9, one step apart from the latest generation). Its registry view seems safer and more helpful that what you have shown here (although I'm a registry ignoramus).

I used to always chose the Advanced registry hunting mode (the most agressive), and systematically delete anything with an obvious mention of the software being uninstalled. Any thoughts ?

Since Kari expressed reservations here on uninstallers because of their registry hacking, I'm not so sure anymore.

I bought the Pro version of Revo because of its recording mode (you can chose to monitor installation, and Revo is supposed to revert the steps when uninstalling ; this is supposed to be more fool-proof).

I'm not sure it works as advertised. It does not make a restore point when uninstalling a monitored installation (contrary to regular uninstall), trusting its records instead. It would often find files "possibly related to the program being uninstalled, that were not recorded by the monitoring process". After checking, it would be obvious that those files and folders did belong to the program. But why were they not recorded by the monitoring mode ?

Also, it's precisely some of the most difficult to uninstall programs that seemed less suited to monitoring. I couldn't uninstall Avast this way. The only way to unroot it was to use Avast's own special uninstaller.

Layback Bear said:

I do things these days a little different removing things.

*First I remove the program using Ccleaner.

*Then I check Windows Search for left overs. Windows Search never finds anything, of course.

*Then I use the little program Everything Search. Great little program.

*Then to finish things off i do a (regedit) search.

Very interesting. So you're doing it all by hand.

Thanks for letting me realise, by the way, that C-Cleaner could uninstall software. I'm well aware of its window where it shows installed software, and I frequently use it because it's better than Windows. But it hadn't struck me that you could as well uninstall programs from there.

What do you search for ? Only the program name ? Including in the registry ?

Would all items bearing the program name in the registry be related to that program's installation, and therefore be eligible for deletion ? Would it be possible that some other software, which should not be deleted, refer in the registry, by name, to the program currently being uninstalled ?

Conversely, couldn't there be some registry items, recorded at installation, that would not bear the program name at all, but just an undecipherable string of letters or numbers ?

Callender said:

I haven't used Revo for a long time but from memory it highlighted entries relating to the removed software in bold and I selected those for deletion.

Exactly. That's why Revo feels so safe to use. I also used to tick happily away at bolded items for deletion, except in the rare cases where they would be bolded, but without any mention of the program's name or publisher in sight, so you'd have to trust Revo blindingly. In such cases, I used to leave them alone.

Callender said:

My usual removal method would be:

Check for running processes, services and drivers belonging to the software that I wish to remove. If found stop and delete (process, service or driver) - then uninstall the software using Geek or similar program.

Reboot - check for leftovers via a file search utility and manually check registry for leftovers using a registry search utility.

That sounds incredibly thorough, but also exacting. How do you trace drivers ? Not through Task Manager ?

I use the same method as Layback Bear. I uninstall via Windows control panel. Then after a reboot I search for any related files/folders and remove, then do a manual search through the registry just to clean any left-over entries. To look for any redundant drivers I use the drivers section of Autoruns from Microsoft.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/.../bb963902.aspx